The wife of one of my Muslim friends is an architect. A Syrian woman, she prays five times a day, but does not wear tudong, hijab, or any other bullshit from Saudi Arabia. Extremely pretty too… So yes, modern Muslim women need not, and should not wear this bs clothing..
In a Race ... there are always top 1% who are smart and intelligent. The problem is the averages ... you can only progress if your averages is high enough.
Example : most Moslem countries IQ average around 85. Most of the population will be doing manual works except for the top 1% who will be the entrepreneur, management etc. But you need plenty of engineers, doctors, lawyers, scientist, intellect to function a progressive society.
That is the main reason why you never come across a progressive Moslem country.